Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, is a physicist with a clear view of the proper relationship of faith and reason. He's also a wonderfully engaging and delightful presenter. This video of his talk at the 2012 Napa Institute (found at the Sacred Page) is an excellent foray into one of the more urgent areas of Apologetics:
Fr. Spitzer is right on the money when he says that we must address the foundational questions first. He lists three: the existence of God, the problem of suffering, and the historicity of Jesus Christ. (One could also add to this list the question about what kind of church was/is intended by Christ.) He really only gets to talk about the first one in this presentation, because of time, but I hope that our formation program has pointed to, if not taught more fully, some of the enduring answers to the others also. (The classes on the Catechism, Apologetics, Moral Theology, and Christology, and the dash of Philosophy we're able to do, all touch on these three fundamental questions to some degree; and of course our Scripture and Ecclesiology classes address the fourth.)
He's also founded the Magis Center for Reason and Faith to provide resources for parents, catechists, and adult learners. It looks like there's quite a bit here that would be useful in some homiletical situations, too.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. This looks to be a very helpful perspective on learning and faith and I'm only about 1/4 of the way through. I keep hearing about Fr. Spitzer but this is the first time I've been able to "see" or "hear" him speak.
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